Validation of Digital Forensic Tools

An important result of the U.S. Supreme Courts Daubert decision is that the digital forensic tools must be validated if the results of examinations using those tools are to be introduced in court. With this audience in mind, our chapter describes important concepts in forensic tool validation along with alternative just-in-time tool validation method that may prove useful for those who do not have the capability of conducting extensive, in-depth forensic tool validation efforts. The audience for this chapter is the law enforcement agent and industry practitioner who does not have a solid theoretical background—from training or experience—in software validation, and who is typically time-constrained in the scope of their validation efforts.